The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1887-06-25

or molders, by a nero twist Of the hand,
a turn of the wrist, or twirl of the fin
gers, form the yielding clay into the
oldest shapes
Still more interesting is the craft of
making perfectly life-like miniature fig
ures out of rags-an art which has exist
ed in Mexico at least five hundred years.
Dickenss Jenny Wren, the dolls dress
maker, finds many prototype IN
Guadalajara, for hundreds of nstive
women spends their lives in making
clothes for these rag figures, in the most
accurate and particular manner possible.
The rag-figure maker is an artist i'll his
way, and produces perfect likenesses of
men, women and children. representing
all callines and classes in Mcxico-from
ragged lepiros to senoritas of fashion,
sandal-shod water carriers and poultry
vendors, elegantly attired caballeros or
gentlemen of leisure, nuns, priests and
servants.
Like the occidental nations, Mexico
has manufacture of textile fabrics pecu-
liarly its own. The Mexican weaver of
silk and cocoa goods uses loom resem-
bling nothing ever seen north of the Rio
Grande-a primitive and clumsy affair,
vet which turns out good work. As no
village, however poor, is without its
reboso and serape manufacturer, one may
see scores of them in operation in almost
any street of Guadalajara
One has only a chance to study the in
genuity of the wax workers. who are
eternally fashioning fruits and flowers,
Large as life and twice as natural" as
Mrs. Darlington observed of the stuffed
crocodile. Ask one of these dark -skinned
workmen for an apple or an orange, and
with incredible rapidity he will manu-
facture one which would tempt the gods
to be deceived by its exact shape and del
icate fruity bloom. 1t is merely layer
of wax over forms of papier mache; but
the soft substance is so deity manipu-
lated and the colors so accurately applied
that one is lost in establishment
Mexican gold and silver embroidery,
thread lace, drawn" work and intricate
needle-work also command universal adj
miration. But the richest and most Curl
Gus of all is the plumaje, or feather work,
which is made only in Mexico, and no.
where better than in Guadala lara, the
secret Of which is known only TO certain
families in which it has been preserved
for centuries. In this city, there arc ele-
CANT mansions decorated something as
were Montezuma's palaces with feather
work the most elaborate. which is neither
tapestry nor applique, nor is it woven
into or sOwn upon the foundation. There
are magnificent curtains also, besides
altar cloths, scarfS, hangings and other
decorations, made of some heavy ma
tarial, ornamented in an indescribably
brilliant manner By leaves and foliage Of
embroidery, in which birds stand out IN
bold relief. because the latter are made
Of the natural plumage of the birds them
selves. BY some mysterious process,
known only to the artists, these real
feathers are wrought upon the stuffed
surface so naturally that the bird from
which the plumagc comes is perfectly re-
produced.
The same art is also exercised upon
cards, large and small, scarf-pins, hair
ornaments, etc, and the tiniest humming-
birds to the talle>t of the stOrk family are
accurately represented.